Effect of Dispersiveness on the Deformation and Fracture Behaviors of ZrO2/Ni Composite Materials
Mitsugu TODO, Kazuo ARAKAWA, Kiyoshi TAKAHASHI Hiromichi TAKEBE and Kenji MORINAGA
Abstract:Six different types of ZrO2/Ni composite materials were fabricated by means of the slip casting method to study the effects of composition and dispersiveness on their deformation and fracture properties. The result of three-point bend testing indicated that the composition had significant influence on the bend strength and absorbed fracture energy with sufficient dispersiveness, whereas there was little effect on these properties with insufficient dispersiveness. The result of mode I fracture testing also exhibited that the critical mode I energy release rate, GIc, depended upon the composition, and the sufficient dispersiveness resulted in better GIc than the insufficient dispersiveness. The microstructures and fracture behaviors of the composites were examined using a laser microscope, an optical microscope with an image analysis technique and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The result of the image analysis showed that the compositions of the sintered materials were different from those of the compacts. The SEM observation also exhibited that in the materials with insufficient dispersiveness, cracks tended to propagate along the interfaces of Ni aggregations, resulting in the degradation of the fracture properties. Key Words:Metal matrix composite, Critical strain energy release rate, Bend strength, Image analysis